We’ve heard the cancer industry cry “cure” before.
Sharon Begley writes at the Daily Beast:
… After four decades of largely unfulfilled hopes—Dec. 23 marks 40 years since President Nixon declared war on cancer—scientists have hit on a potential cure that few thought possible a few years ago: vaccines. If they succeed, cancer vaccines would revolutionize treatment. They could spell the end of chemotherapy and radiation, which can have horrific side effects, which tumor cells often become resistant to, and which often make so little difference it would be laughable were it not so tragic: last week, for instance, headlines touted two new drugs for metastatic breast cancer even though studies failed to show that they extend survival by a single day. Vaccines could make such “advances” a thing of the past. And they could make cancer as preventable, with a few jabs, as measles…
Thirteen years ago angiostatins were the up-and-coming miracle cure. They have underperformed to say the least.
We were skeptical then. We’re not holding our breath now either.
Since there are so many variations of most forms of cancer, will people have to have hundreds of different vaccines?… cancer is caused by genetic alterations… how do you create a vaccine to prevent the myriad of potential DNA changes?… just a thought!